In Search Of An Insectivore
by anathemaofyggdrasil
Summary: Lance and Pidge go on a simple mission to find an Arusian's lost pet while the team is on a short and well deserved break.


"It's a what?"

Lance peered with narrowed eyes down at the three-toed prints in the mud. The ground was wet, rich and dark with nutrients. He spied a pale, wiggly, worm-like thing burrowing back into the soil from the middle toe print. It looked almost like a bird's.

"It's a- you aren't even listening!" Pidge's voice grew exasperated, the patience she had earlier dying as their expedition continued.

"Sorry! Sorry! It's just, this world looks so much like home, you know?" He grinned up at her, straightening. Evolution had taken a rather heart-warming turn on Arus, with flora and fauna that as first glance resembled something that might of lived on Earth in the prehistoric era.

"We're trying to find the odlai before dark. It's like this high-" her hand came up to her waist, "and it looks kind of like a rat and a cat and a pig." The villagers had shown them a rough likeness of the creature, which they had agreed to find as a thank you for their hospitality. A few rough weeks had meant a rest on some peaceful planet, where they could breathe the open air, sunbathe, and swim. Not that Keith would touch the water. The group had quickly discovered that he didn't like deep water and would rather avoid swimming altogether. Any attempts to persuade him had been shut down by Shiro.

 _He's a kill-joy alright_ , Lance thought, searching some nearby underbrush. They had been tracking the thing for a few miles now with no luck, though Pidge kept saying _these tracks are fresh_ , and _I saw something!_

Lance was ready to head back. The Arusians would be alright without their pig cat, and it had probably been eaten by something already…

"What type of animals are out here?" the blue paladin asked, ducking under a tree limb after Pidge. The only girl on the team was dressed as casually as he was- after all, they were only trying to find someone's lost pet.

"You mean predators?" Pidge stopped, adjusting her glasses. They had just been knocked crooked by a leafy branch.

"Uhh, yeah, predators."

"Well, the odlai is an insectivore- it eats bugs. The villagers keep them for pest control. And, I think they ride it? I don't know. I saw saddles on some of them. If they do I think they should have trained it to come when it's called, I mean, most horses and domesticated animals come when called. But that wasn't what you asked."

Lance reflected on the horses his neighbor had when he was back on Earth, before the garrison. They had been friendly. He fed them apples sometimes.

"Predators, I'm not really sure about. None of the villagers have mentioned any, but there must be _some_ , and I've seen plenty of weapons around. Probably we scared a lot of them off when we landed."

"Seems reasonable," Lance said, and then paused when he saw something move under a small tree. He squinted, leaning his shoulders forward while keeping his feet planted. Was that-

"The odlai!" Pidge halted beside him, having fallen back while she was talking. She made a soft sound, which also sounded mildly surprised.

"It's really cute," she said, and he agreed. The odlai _was_ a giant rodent-cat-pig, but it had a fluffy tail and it wasn't nearly as fat as he had imagined it would look like. Honestly, that drawing had sucked. It looked like a hedgehog and a cat had a child, which lost their spikes. Adorable, with brown fur and black stripes.

"Here little guy", Lance said, clapping his hands in front of him but low by his hips. The odlai snorted, startling up from its comfortable position in the shade of branches.

"Oh no- no- hey buddy it's okay!" Lance said, raising his hands up in a harmless gesture. The odlai made a little noise, darting a few feet away before it stopped to watch them again.

"Shut up Lance, you're scaring it!" Pidge hissed the words quietly, and then eased forward slowly. She was much shorter than Lance and that seemed to help the odlai relax, though it did still watch them with a nervous black eye. Its head was turned, as if ready to dart in another direction. It twitched its nose, tail swinging behind it.

"Come here," Pidge said encouraged, crouching. She dug into the little pouch they had brought with them, sparing only a little glance at the long worm she pulled out of it. It looked similar to the one Lance had seen earlier, and he made an expression of disgust. He didn't know how she could handle such creepy, slimy little things.

He kept back while she coaxed the odlai out, and once it had taken the worm from her hand- sending shudders up Lance's spine as it bit it into segments and ate them all up. _Groooss._

It seemed happy enough to follow them back after that, though still looked at Lance suspiciously. He kept well away from it- he had seen some _teeth_ on that thing while it was eating. Not sharp, but big, thick molars that could obviously crush things. Like his hands. His hands were wonderful and soft thanks to his skincare routine, and he wasn't about to ruin that by getting a finger bitten off.

"You found it," Shiro said, sitting on a stone wall just on the outside of the village. He looked relaxed, for once. Lance was glad, deep down, because their leader worked so hard to take care of them. This place was good for him too.

"Yeah! I think- I think he likes me now," Pidge was smiling, patting the brown creature between its tufted ears. It pranced a little, obviously enjoying her affection and the familiarity of the village. It was endearing to see the two together.

Lance wondered if he could convince her to ride it.

"We'll just take him back home now," she continued, "he honestly wasn't that hard to find. But Lance almost scared him off."

"Hey! It wasn't my fault, he's just not used to humans!"

They passed Shiro, who leaned back on the small wall. It was made of stone, maybe two feet high and a foot wide. It was only in the moment just after he stepped beyond the fence line that Lance saw a sliver of red in his peripheral and glanced back. He stifled a comment, instead keeping quiet, when he saw Keith sitting on the ground. The red paladin's head was leaned back against the small of Shiro's back, and his eyes were closed. The older male was broad enough to block any hint of Keith as they entered the village.

It was interesting, and Lance thought he was asleep until Keith's eyes slid open and he raised an eyebrow.

Lance stuck his tongue out at him and ran off after Pidge and her new friend. The Arusian who had asked them to go find the creature was extremely grateful. They were happy to help, of course, and seeing the reunion was sweeter than Lance had expected. The villager even went as far as to offer one of the odlai's recent litter- Lance hadn't known it was a parent!- to which he went to say no and Pidge quickly agreed to. Aghast, he swung his head to her.

"Kaltenecker needs friends too!" she insisted, and rushed to check the litter out while he followed, mildly concerned, but really Shiro and Coran would never deny Pidge, and Allura liked animals too much.

"Besides. I'm really curious how an animal like this survives only on bugs, I mean there are anteaters on Earth and they're pretty big, but it seems surprising that…"

Ah. That explained it better.


End file.
